Have you noticed your hair is thicker these months? You’re not making it up; this is one of the effects of pregnancy hormones. Likewise, you may have noticed you have more hair in certain parts of your body, where you didn’t have any before. This is also a consequence of pregnancy hormones.

Thicker hair

You don’t really grow more hair during pregnancy, but pregnancy hormones delay hair-loss. When you lose less hair, it looks thicker. It is, however, a temporary benefit of hormones. A few months down the line, when you’ve delivered your baby, you’ll lose hair at a normal rate again.  

Hair dyes

Many women color their hair regularly and it is common to wonder whether you can continue to do so during pregnancy. A small amount of the dye may be absorbed through the scalp. For this reason, it’s important that the dye undergoes strict controls and is free of substances such as lead or mercury, which are harmful for the baby and the mother.  

Doctors usually recommend not coloring your hair during the first three months of pregnancy. That’s when the baby’s basic structure is being formed and when harmful substances could interfere with its basic development.  

Another option is to use vegetable dyes during pregnancy that do not contain chemical components. But you should read the labels closely because although some of them are labeled as being vegetable dyes, they also contain chemicals similar to those of permanent dyes. Henna is a natural product that has been used for centuries as a dye, and is considered safe to use during pregnancy.   

More body hair

For the same reason your hair is thicker, body hair can appear to be excessive in some areas during pregnancy. This excess body hair will disappear once you have the baby.

If you feel this is inconvenient or unattractive, you can tweeze it or shave it, as long as it’s not facial hair. Depilatory creams, just like hair dyes, should be used with care, since the effects on these chemicals on the baby are not fully understood. You should be especially careful with products that have been imported from countries where there are not such strict controls. In the past, creams have been found to have a high level of mercury.  

It is also advisable to postpone treatments such as laser hair removal, or electrolysis, for the same reason. Your skin could be sensitive during pregnancy and have an adverse reaction to these treatments.  

Hair-loss

Once you’ve had your baby, you’ll notice some hair loss. Sometimes, the number of stray hairs you can find on your clothes, on your pillow or on your comb or brush may be alarming. But that, up to a certain point, is considered normal: it’s not that you’re losing a disproportionate amount of hair, but that the hair you didn’t lose in the past months is following its natural course now.

In any case, if you consider it to be an alarming amount, or if you have small bald patches on your head, you should speak to your doctor. Sometimes, the excessive hair loss or bald patches could be a sign of other conditions, such as stress.